Country House Roosenburg

Protected cityscape and solid statements in one Wassenaar villa

Sven and Barbara came to us via Architect at the Table. They were enthusiastic about the first sketch session and so began a beautiful collaboration between them, us and Euroconstruct. The exterior was moderately renovated, but the floor plan went through a major overhaul. Small rooms cleared the field in favor of more spaciousness.” Statements such as breaking open the rear facade transformed the somewhat stuffy villa into a modern, surprising and spacious home with respect for architect Dirk Roosenburg’s original design.

From Amsterdam’s inner city to the greenery of Wassenaar: Sven had been walking around with that idea for a long time, but Barbara didn’t want to leave town just yet. When it came up again, he showed her the villa on Silk Road that they would eventually buy. It also turned out to be a design by architect Dirk Roosenburg, who designed the first KLM office and Villa Windekind in The Hague in the 1920s: a building Sven secretly loved. That had to be a good buy!

“The course of this renovation was truly a breath of fresh air.”

As charming as the property’s exterior was, its interior was dated. On the advice of Barbara’s brother – he had sat down with the gentlemen from FOAM a few months before – Sven booked a sketching session through “Architect at the Table. Sven: “For a reasonable fee, they came by in the evening for a conversation and to make some sketches. We had an instant click.” And that’s saying something, because Sven and Barbara thoroughly remodeled their two previous homes in Amsterdam. The feeling at FOAM was right away. “Sander told me about their good cooperation with Euroconstruct and that immediately piqued my interest: from experience I know that good contractors are hard to find.”

The renovation went smoothly and the move to Wassenaar did the family good. “In Amsterdam, we had to go out of town for everything – sports, to the woods. Family life was heavier as a result. Moreover, I work in South Holland and am now home a lot faster.” The search Sven had out in Wassenaar paid off. He found the villa he fell in love with. Together with FOAM and Euroconstruct, it also became a stylish and functional family home. “Everything, from the introduction to the design and execution of the renovation, went incredibly smoothly. The cooperation with both the architects from FOAM and the contractors from Euroconstruct was really a relief.”

Photography: Nicoline Rodenburg